Composer

:

Maurice Ravel

Genre

:

Vocal

Style

:

Vocal Music

Compose Date

:

1913

Average_duration

:

4:12

Maurice Ravel's 'Placet futile (Poèmes de Mallarmé No. 2)' is a song cycle composed in 1913. It premiered on May 5, 1914, in Paris, with the composer himself at the piano and Jeanne Hatto as the vocalist. The cycle consists of three movements, each based on a poem by the French symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé. The first movement, 'Placet futile,' is a setting of Mallarmé's poem of the same name. The poem is a meditation on the futility of human existence, and Ravel's music captures this mood with its sparse, haunting harmonies and delicate, almost fragile melodies. The vocal line is spare and declamatory, with the singer often speaking rather than singing the text. The second movement, 'Évantail,' is based on Mallarmé's poem 'Le Faune.' The poem describes a faun's encounter with a group of nymphs, and Ravel's music captures the sensuous, dreamlike quality of the poem with its shimmering, impressionistic harmonies and sinuous, winding melodies. The vocal line is more lyrical and expressive than in the first movement, with the singer weaving in and out of the piano's delicate textures. The final movement, 'Le Grillon,' is based on Mallarmé's poem of the same name. The poem describes a cricket singing in the night, and Ravel's music captures the nocturnal atmosphere with its dark, brooding harmonies and sinuous, winding melodies. The vocal line is more virtuosic and expressive than in the previous movements, with the singer soaring above the piano's dark, rumbling textures. Overall, 'Placet futile (Poèmes de Mallarmé No. 2)' is a haunting and evocative song cycle that showcases Ravel's mastery of impressionistic harmony and his ability to capture the mood and atmosphere of Mallarmé's poetry.

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